Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
M ax and Pansy worked like a couple of dreams. Like dreams with rainbows in the fluffy clouds where unicorns pranced around all day.
Jesus, they were the perfect pair to start his breeding program.
And Coop had just…given them to him.
“That’s my girl,” Brooks murmured. “That’s my sweet Pansy.”
Benji had gone off to work. The kids were back in school. He and Coop were together every night…
He was damn happy. Happier than he could remember being, truth be told. For all that he missed his brother, or at least the idea of him when they were kids, he was so glad to have his brother’s kids in his life.
And Coop. Coop was a fucking revelation.
He was stubborn as hell. He had real ideas about kids and what they should be doing. But he doted on them, and he tore Brooks up at night, and they were…talking.
About books. Movies. Life in general. Their pasts.
It was—Well, it was wild to him .
He stroked Patsy’s neck, so glad their quarantine was over and she was loving the other four members of the remuda. Those rescue horses had a great calming effect on Pansy and Max, who could be high-strung. Not mean. Just nervy.
He took in a deep breath, then breathed out, sharing it with Pansy, whose nostrils quivered. He knew it was horse whisperer-level stuff, but it worked.
Of course, every so often it got him bit or knocked down, but so be it. That was the way it went with horses.
“Okay, sweetie. How about a carrot and a nice warm stall, huh? You’ve worked enough today.” He started to walk her back to her stall, hand on her halter, when his phone rang.
Now that? That didn’t bother her at all. He laughed. Coop was always saying cowboys loved their phones. Young and old.
He pulled it out, frowning when he saw who it was. He hit the answer button. “Oi, Pete. How’s things on the station?”
“Good. Good.” Pete was a big guy with a booming voice and an accent that could peel potatoes, it was so sharp. “It’s not the station I’m worried about.”
“Oh?” He got Pansy in her stall and closed the gate. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s Diamond.”
“What’s wrong with her?” Haley’s Diamond Doll was Pete Haley’s best mare, and Brooks had hand-trained her. She reined like a dream.
“We did our first competition. She won’t work for Fordham.”
“Fordham!” He headed back to the house because his nuts were freezing. “That’s because he’s a dick, and he’s too damn rough on every horse he climbs on.”
“Well, he’s what I have.”
“So hire someone else.” He hated this shit. This was one reason he’d been happy to leave Pete Haley’s employ. He’d held the horses over Brooks’s head to keep him on when he would have left for other opportunities.
“I would rather you came back.”
“Pete, I told you, my brother died, and I have his kids now.”
“I know, I know. But I just need you back to hire someone to take your place, yeah? Come to the big futurity at the end of the month. Show Diamond and Hades and poach someone for me from another crew. A week, tops.”
“I’d have to make some arrangements. I’ll talk to some people, call you back.”
“I’ll give you straws, mate. From your stallion. From Hades.”
He paused, because that was tempting. “I’ll let you know.”
“Think about it. Seriously mate. It’s just a week.” Nothing with Pete was just anything—it was always a production.
“Let me talk to my family. I’ll call you back.” He hung up and stomped the snow and muck off of his boots. Now there was a temptation and a half.
Seriously.
Hades was one of the finest creatures he’d ever dealt with in his whole life. There was no way he was going to be able to make the money to actually buy semen from that stallion anyway.
But that was a long damn flight, and there were Valentine’s parties for Mina, the Favorites dance for Ricky, piano lessons, and all the other activities that five kids piled on.
Coop was working in the media room, whistling along with the radio like a happy cricket. He did all the renovations by himself, only calling in help when he absolutely had to. Thank God he didn’t have to much because Ricky was on it, happy to help and earn a little cash doing it .
The room was an absolute wreck, but Brooks was beginning to see a media room at the end of the tunnel.
His lover was on a ladder, painting everything a rich dark burgundy that promised to make the place seem like a movie theater. So smart.
“Hey, babe, what’s up?” Coop grinned down at him, the expression warm, happy, heating him up, and he wandered closer. It was so easy to reach up and put one hand on Coop’s tight, hard butt. Yummy. “Mmm. How are those babies?”
“The horses are great. Everybody’s put back in the barn. I was getting a little chilly.”
“Sounds good, I’m just a painting fool up here.
It’s looking good though, don’t you think?
They’re supposed to be delivering the chairs in a week or so, and the projection screen’s here.
” Coop had picked one of those damn things that had a remote control, which Brooks thought was hilarious.
“I’ll put up that up as soon as the paint over there dries, and I’m satisfied with it. ”
He grinned, but his brain was still in Oz.
Dammit, he didn’t want to have to make decisions.
Coop tilted his head, looking down at him, curious. “What’s wrong?”
That bullfighter had instincts he envied the fuck out of. “I got a phone call from my old boss in Australia.”
“Oh? You forget something there?”
He rolled his eyes and sighed, moving to sit down on a paint-splattered folding chair. “No. He’s having trouble with one of the horses. He needs to get a new trainer, and he wants me to come hire somebody.”
One of those expressive eyebrows winged up. “Seems like it’s a lot of money for you to fly all the way out there and stuff just to hire somebody. Can you do it online?”
“I wish.” He shook his head. “No, I need to see them work the horses, need to watch him ride. I need to know. I mean, you know how it is. These horses are athletes; they’re not going to work with somebody they don’t want to work for.”
Coop put the paintbrush down and climbed down off the ladder. “And so I’m assuming that they work with you, and somebody wants you to do something for them before you hire.”
“Good guess.” He rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Yeah, there’s a competition. So I’d be going out, doing a competition, hiring somebody, and coming back. He’s saying about a week, ten days on the top end.”
“Okay. What’s in it for you?”
“Well, that’s the real temptation. He’s offered to give me some straws of my favorite stallion, Hades. And I’ll tell you what, Pansy would make some beautiful babies…” And he wanted that. Bad.
“Well, now I know that that is a temptation and totally worth going out for a week. I say you should do it.”
“You think so?” Okay, that was a surprise.
“Well, I mean, you don’t have to if you don’t want to.
I don’t mind one way or the other, but that’s a pretty good deal.
Fly out, send some pictures back here to the kids.
Do your thing with the horses. Get everybody a present.
Bring the straws back. You’re not missing anybody’s birthday or anything.
We haven’t got a birthday until Ricky’s in March.
Hell. Just for ten days? You’d be golden. ”
“You sure you can handle all these hooligans?” Don’t you need me here? He didn’t say it out loud, but he thought it.
“It’s a week. If I have to, I will duct tape them to the walls. Really the biggest problem’s going to be the horses. All I have to do with them is feed them, right? I’ve dealt with a lot more kids and cows, than I have horses.”
He winked at Coop. “For all that you don’t know, you sure did a good job picking them out for me.”
Maybe he would go. It would definitely give him a start. It would give him a great start, but this would be a huge notch in his belt. And he would be back in a trice. There were at least three guys he could think of offhand who would kill for a personal recommendation from him to Pete.
The guy was a dick, but he paid well, and this particular job had a lot of downtime and good money.
“Okay, well, how about we talk to the kids about it?”
Coop beamed at him. “I like that. Thanks for that, Brooks. It means a lot that you want them to have input.”
“I do. And you. I don’t want to leave anyone in the lurch. All of y’all are my most important thing these days.”
That grin just widened, if it were possible. “Well, that sounds damn fine, honey.” Coop reeled him in for a kiss, pulling him up out of the chair. “Wanna go take a shower? We got time.”
“God yes.” Brooks took another kiss, his whole body warming to it. “Come on.”
They headed to the bathroom after Coop closed the paint and set the brushes up to soak.
Pete could wait for a few days.
It would get him an even better offer.